A Beautiful Mind is a film directed by Ron Howard that narrates of a brilliant mathematician John Forbes Nash. Drawing illustrations from the true story of a genius Nash, the film epitomizes the true concepts of psychology. As an awkward and social inept student, Nash is depicted as a character who strives to invent a theoretical mathematical equation. Even though Howard characterizes Nash as a genius, it dawns to the audience that he has schizophrenia. In this film, schizophrenia has been described as a personality split illness characterized by disorganized thinking, inappropriate emotions, and disturbed perceptions. Although the character suffers from a psychiatric illness, he is depicted as a hero who is able to overcome his mental disabilities to achieve personal goals.
At the beginning of the film, Nash is seen arriving at the Princeton study with other geniuses in the field. Instead of mingling with other students he isolates himself by claiming that they haven’t produced any innovative ideas yet ( Hankir, Holloway, Zaman & Agius, 2015). With this mentality, he absconds classes by preferring to work on a rock star thesis. Even though he attempts to have fruitful conversations with friends, he is unable to handle his arrogance and verbal deficiencies. However, he comes to develop a good relationship with his roommate Charles who helps him fulfill his socialization needs ( Hankir et al., 2015). Although he finally abandons his loneliness through Charles, the department is still unimpressed with his habit of eluding classes. Having frustrated the department on his inability to constitute a decent paper as required, he later shocks them all by coming up with a huge idea that revamps the economic theory ( Hankir et al., 2015). This invention places him above the bar in the academic realms of the institution. After his schooling years, Nash is depicted working in a prestigious MIT lab where he is seen breaking military codes that are crucial in a US war with Russia ( Niemiec, 2014) . Later he enters a romantic relationship with Alicia who ends up marries him. However, Nash’ glamourous expedition hits a snag when spies start pursuing him. In the middle of the film, Nash is depicted freaking out on noticing suspicious men entering the auditorium while he is presenting at a mathematics conference. With this knowledge, he is chased by the two men who subdue him with drugs. In anticipating on what occurred next, Howard ascertains that all these actions were mere hallucinations occurring in Nash’ beautiful mind ( Lehman, 2013). Even his roommate Charles was a mere imagination. It is through this illustration that Nash realizes that he is ill and unable to accomplish his dreams. However, with the aid of his wife Alicia, he manages to overcome the illness to become one of the greatest geniuses in real life.
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In this film, the psychological problem of schizophrenia has stood out throughout the play. While at the beginning of the film, Nash is described as an introverted young man who is searching for his excellence in academics, it still unfolds that he is different from other students. His lack of ability to form proper socialization skills illustrates the signs of schizophrenia. Also, delusions, hallucinations, catatonic behavior and disorganized speech manifested in Nash, describes the true symptoms of schizophrenia. Although the film is built around mathematics concepts, it was entirely made to illustrate the psychological symptoms and problems experienced by people diagnosed with schizophrenia. Furthermore, the film provides an insight on how psychiatric illnesses overburden those close to the patients. As seen when Alicia realizes the personality of Nash had changed drastically, she learns that he is no longer the man he married in the first place. This is a psychological issue that can have a detrimental impact on relationships. Even though the film eclipses the struggles encountered by Nash in real life, it also describes how he remains resilient to overcome his mental disability to attain life goals. Based on this concept, major inspirations can be drawn from the strategy used by Nash to overcome his mental fragility to become one of the best academicians.
In critiquing the film, the director was more focused on creating a movie that describes schizophrenia rather than mathematical concepts ( Bhattacharya, 2015). As a result, he intelligently weaves together a contrasting character of Nash that is rarely seen in the modern mainstream cinema. Even though the film has been criticized because it lacks much drama, romance, excitement and pathos, its screenplay is still perfect in educating the public on the main symptoms of schizophrenia. Russel Crowe who assumes the role of Nash in the film has been credited with the best performance so far since he succeeds in his role as a young man who defies the odds to rebuild his marriage and career ( Bhattacharya, 2015). However, the film’s inability to explicitly explore mathematical concepts is one notable negative that can dent its acceptance by some members of the public. Also, Nash’ postulations that he has “two helpings of the brain and half of heart” which contradicts the film title ( Niemiec, 2014) .
In summary, the film enlightens the public on the symptoms of schizophrenia and how it can be overcome in real life. Major inspirations can be drawn from Nash’ ability to ignore hallucinations to become one of the greatest scholars. Even though it does not dwell on mathematical concepts as expected, the screenplay transcends the purpose of its creation. The director does a fantastic job at the final scene by integrating the film predictability with emotional concepts. Based on this aspect I would rate the film as one of the best.
References
Bhattacharya, A. (2015). Autism in Movies-A Paradigm Shift. Indian Journal of Growth, Development and Behavioral Pediatrics , 11 , 27-31.
Hankir, A., Holloway, D., Zaman, R., & Agius, M. (2015). Cinematherapy and film as an educational tool in undergraduate psychiatry teaching: a case report and review of the literature. Psychiatr Danub , 27 (Suppl 1), 136-42.
Lehman, F. (2013). Transformational analysis and the representation of genius in film music. Music Theory Spectrum , 35 (1), 1-22.
Niemiec, R. M. (2014). Movies and mental illness: Using films to understand psychopathology . Hogrefe Publishing.
